The Standard Opinion of the Standard of Ur

One of the more mysterious objects found in the excavations of Ur by Leonard Woolley was found in the site labeled Private Grave 779 (PG 779). It's a trapazoidal box with mosaic on 4 sides, and not obvious function. Woolley named it the "Standard of Ur" assuming it was some sort of military banner, but there's been little support for that since. People have conjectured it as a cash-box, a musical instrument and other vaguely-plausible ideas. Over at the Sumerian Shakespere blog though there's a good defense of the original explaination, based partly of the iconography of the decorations themselves, and some good pictures of the standard as well. Have a read.